Cree files infringement suit against competitor

SAN FRANCISCO  LED chip vendor Cree Inc. has filed a patent infringement suit against competitor BridgeLux Inc. in U.S. federal court, the company said Monday (Sept. 11).

According to Cree (Durham, N.C.), the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the middle district of North Carolina, alleges that BridgeLux infringes two patents. The complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and injunctive relief, Cree said.

One of the patents that BridgeLux, formerly eLite Optoelectronics, is said to infringe relates to light extraction structures used in LEDs. The second relates to semiconductor devices manufactured using a gallium nitride-based buffer technology, Cree said.

The gallium-nitride-related patent is owned by the Trustees of Boston University and licensed to Cree on an exclusive basis, Cree said. Boston University is a co-plaintiff in the suit, the company said.

Cree said the same patent, entitled "Highly Insulating Monocrystalline Gallium Nitride Thin Films," was the subject of two prior suits brought by Cree and Boston University against Nichia Corporation and AXT Inc. Both of these suits resulted in settlements, Cree said.